1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to printers of the type which print characters in response to coded digital data, and more particularly to arrangements within such printers for combining lines of the coded digital data into a single line and for translating the different lines of coded ditital data into corresponding graphic code data in accordance with different translation algorithms provided by different translate tables.
2. History of the Prior Art
Printers of the type which print graphic characters in response to coded character data in binary form have found widespread use in many data processing operations and systems. Such printers respond to the incoming coded character data to physically print the graphic characters represented by the character data as defined by the code itself. The printing operation can assume various different forms including the well known impact printer in which each segment of the coded character data results in the selection of a piece of type or other raised indicia. The selected piece of type strikes a piece of paper or other printable medium to effect printing of the desired graphic character.
Prior art printers of the type described suffer from a number of disadvantages which often limit their usefulness. One limitation of such printers relates to the fact that the various print lines as received by the printer cannot be combined so as to take advantage of the various processes to which the coded data is subjected. A further limitation of such prior printers relates to the inability to provide certain flexibility in the processing of data within the printer so as to provide for such things as the printing of different graphic characters in the same line using the same character code data.